CIA Just Released This Secret 9/11 Report That Reveals Major ‘Systemic Problems’

The CIA chose to declassify the OIG’s report, along with two responses from former CIA Director George Tenet, “to further contribute to the public record on these events."By Randy DeSotoon June 15, 2015 at 12:58pm

The CIA declassified and released a report Friday outlining multiple “systemic problems” within the agency before 9/11.

Some of the failures outlined in the nearly 500-page report, prepared by the CIA’s Inspector General (OIG) in 2005 include: missing the clear signs of an impending attack, not recognizing the potential of using aircraft as weapons, inadequate watchlisting of potential terrorists, problems with information sharing within the CIA and among the non-intelligence communities within the government, and the lack of gathering of human intelligence from the field.

Overall, the government watchdog found that the CIA and its officers “did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner.”

Advertisement - story continues below

Related Stories

The report in many aspects reached the same conclusions as the 9/11 Commission Report (2004), which was available to the public. The Senate and House Intelligence Committees also prepared a Joint Inquiry (2002) of the performance of the U.S. intelligence communities, which the OIG was asked to review and assess.

The CIA chose to declassify the OIG’s report, along with two responses from former CIA Director George Tenet, “to further contribute to the public record on these events.”

“The events of 9/11 will be forever seared into the memories of all Americans who bore witness to the single greatest tragedy to befall our homeland in recent history,” the CIA said. “The documents released today reflect differing views formed roughly a decade ago within CIA about the Agency’s performance prior to 9/11.”

Advertisement - story continues below

In a June 2005 letter, Tenet called the OIG’s analysis “nonsense,” “simply in error,” “devoid of any information” from senior policy makers, and said that it “ignores” key facts, The Hill noted.

“Your report does not fairly or accurately portray my actions, or the heroic work of the men and women of the Intelligence Community,” he claimed. “It is simply not fair to make judgments about my performance without having a complete understanding of the facts.”

In the final section of the report, entitled “Issues Related to Saudi Arabia,” the OIG finds that “The team encountered no evidence that the Saudi government knowingly and willingly supported al Qaeda terrorists.” Most of this 30-page section is redacted.

Vice News reports: “Last October, French-born al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui, the suspected 20th 9/11 hijacker, made an explosive claim. He told lawyers for families of 9/11 victims suing the Saudi government that he had met with high-ranking members of the royal family who financed al Qaeda in the 1990s, including Saudi Arabia’s then intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, as well as longtime ambassador to the US Prince Bandar Bin Sulan, and Prince Salman, who became king earlier this year.”

Trending Stories

The Saudi Embassy released a statement in February addressing Moussaoui’s claims:

There is no evidence to support Zacarias Moussaoui’s claim. The September 11 attack has been the most intensely investigated crime in history and the findings show no involvement by the Saudi government or Saudi officials. As confirmed by the 9/11 Commission, there is “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization [Al-Qaeda].”

Moussaoui is a deranged criminal whose own lawyers presented evidence that he was mentally incompetent. His words have no credibility.

His goal in making these statements only serves to get attention for himself and try to do what he could not do through acts of terrorism – to undermine Saudi-U.S. relations.